The present invention relates to the fields of customer service, personal digital assistants (PDAs) and wireless communication systems. More specifically, the present invention relates to small wireless communication networks installed in places of business, entertainment, or education for enhancing the service provided to customers or visitors.
A variety of businesses, entertainment facilities and educational facilities provide services to customers and other visitors throughout a wide physical area. This wide physical area may be a large single building, a complex of buildings or a facility spread over a number of square miles that includes indoor and outdoor, or just outdoor areas. Examples of such enterprises that provide entertainment, information, products or services to customers and other visitors in a geographically distributed or spread-out area include, but are not limited to, amusement parks, zoos, museums, shopping malls, national parks and monuments, historical sites, cruise ships, etc.
These enterprises, by their nature, must allow their customers or visitors to walk or move throughout their facilities. Unfortunately, due to the wide physical area of the facility, interfacing with the customer or visitor and providing adequate customer support is problematic. Most such wide-area enterprises currently provide little, or wholly inadequate, information to make the customer""s experience while on-property more efficient and pleasant. In these environments, customers have resigned themselves to expect certain inconveniences. For example, waiting in a long line to ride an attraction at an amusement park or waiting in a long line to make purchases in a store has become commonplace.
Identifying locations and/or products within a wide-area facility also presents problems. For example, customers have accepted trying to find the location of an amusement park attraction or a store within a mall while reading a printed map or jostling with a number of other people to view a larger, posted map. With such arrangements, it may be difficult for a user to identify his or her present location on the map provided, particularly if the map is printed and not a fixed-position, posted map. Additionally, in larger stores, a customer may wander for a lengthy period of time looking for the product he or she needs.
Another problem that arises in wide-area facilities is the management of a group whose members have divergent interests. For example, in amusement parks, malls, and other similar geographically dispersed destinations, customers often travel in groups. At times, however, members of the group break off to see or use different elements of the facility or to move at a different pace. Once separated, members of the group have limited means for keeping track of each other and meeting back together.
Another problem retailers and amusement park operators have includes difficulties in relaying information to their customers. If an item is carried by a store and a customer cannot find it, a sale is lost. If a ride must be shut down due to maintenance or inclement weather, a misinformed customer may put blame on the amusement park.
Consequently, there is a need in the art for a method and system of providing enhanced customer service in a wide-area facility. Specifically, there is a need for better systems and methods of providing directional and product information to customers in a wide-area facility, preventing long lines for services within the wide-area facility and facilitating communication between separated members of a group making use of the wide-area facility.
It is an object of the present invention to address the above-described problems and others. Specifically, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method and system of providing enhanced customer service in a wide-area facility. More specifically, some of the objects of the present invention include providing a method and system of better providing directional and product information to customers in a wide-area facility, preventing long lines for services within the wide-area facility and facilitating communication between separated members of a group making use of the wide-area facility.
Additional objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows or may be learned by those skilled in the art through reading these materials or practicing the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be achieved through the means recited in the appended claims.
In a preferred embodiment, the present invention may be described as a system for supporting customer use of a wide-area facility which is under a common management or ownership. The system includes a plurality of transceiver bases distributed throughout the wide-area facility which is under common management or ownership; a system controller in communication with the transceiver bases; and at least one portable device carried by a customer who is using the wide-area facility, wherein the portable device communicates wirelessly with the plurality of transceiver bases so as to communicate with the system controller. The system controller transmits information about the wide-area facility to the portable device through the network of transceiver bases.
The system can assist the user in navigating the wide-area facility. Specifically, the system controller monitors the location of each portable device within the wide-area facility. Preferably, each portable device includes a display which displays the position of that portable device on an interactive map of the wide-area facility to facilitate navigation of the wide-area facility by the customer. The portable device may also display on the interactive map the location of a selected attraction or item within the wide-area facility. If the customer is visiting the wide-area facility with a group, e.g., a family unit, the portable device can be made to display the a position of one or-more other portable devices within the wide-area facility that are carried by members of the group which includes the customer.
The portable device of the present invention can also provide communication between portable devices. For example, the portable device preferably includes a user data entry device with which the customer can input a message for wireless transmission to the transceiver bases. The message is then retransmitted to another portable device carried by a designated message recipient within the wide-area facility.
The portable device of the present invention can also provide voice communications. For example, the portable device preferably includes an audio processing circuit, a microphone connected to the audio processing circuit, and a speaker connected to the audio processing circuit. The portable device then creates a two-way voice communication link between the portable device and another portable device in the wide-area facility using one or more of the transceiver bases to transmit voice data.
The portable device of the present invention can also be used to support customer purchasing within the wide-area facility. The portable device of the present invention preferably includes a user input device connected to a controller that is executing purchasing software. The user then makes purchases from the wide-area facility by authorizing a charge for a specified item with the user input device of the portable device. The authorization for the charge is processed by the purchasing software and communicated to the system controller.
The system of the present invention can further support customer purchases by customizing the advertising targeted at customers. Preferably, the system controller maintains a customer profile including demographic and preference information input by the customer and a record of purchases made by the customer from the wide-area facility. The system controller then transmits advertising or purchase offers to the portable device based on information from the customer profile.
In its preferred application, the present invention is used in an amusement or theme park to enhance customer experiences. In such an application, the system controller preferably maintains a schedule of reservations for the customer to use attractions of the park. The customer is then given preferential admission to an attraction at a time corresponding to that customer""s reservation to use that attraction as recorded by the system controller.
The system controller is preferably connected to a web host so that customers can access the system controller over the Internet through the web host to generate a schedule of reservations to use the attractions of the park. Alternatively, the customer may communicate with the system controller using the portable device to create, edit or review the schedule of reservations.
Preferably, the system controller transmits reminders of reservations on the schedule to the portable device carried by the customer. The portable device may also display a suggested route from the customer""s current location to the next attraction on the schedule of reservations. The route suggested may differ depending on the time of day or conditions or activities in the wide-area facility.
The present invention also encompasses the methods of making, installing and using the system described above. For example, the present invention expressly includes a method of supporting customer use of a wide-area facility which is under a common management or ownership by transmitting information about the wide-area facility to a portable device carried by a customer who is using the wide-area facility, where the portable device communicates wirelessly with a plurality of transceiver bases distributed throughout the wide-area facility which is under common management or ownership, and a system controller is in communication with the transceiver bases and transmits the information about the wide-area facility to the portable device using the transceiver bases.